Saturday saw the much-awaited return of People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
While in the US he paid a trip to Washington in the vain hope that officials there could restore his morale by treating him as a serious contender for Taiwan's presidency. Quite the reverse, they appear to have treated him rather as a serious pain in the neck, because of his party's opposition to purchasing the weapons the US has offered Taiwan.
We can only hope that on closer acquaintance the US better understands exactly whose interests Soong has at heart. The nature of those interests are quite plain: Soong wishes to go down as a great Chinese historical figure by accomplishing "reunification" -- handing Taiwan over to the People's Republic of China. And naturally he is opposed to anything that would interfere with this vision of his manifest destiny, such as Taiwan's democratic processes or US weapons.
There has been much ado about the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) trying to work together with Soong and the PFP to try to break the current political impasse. This idea seems to be dead, thank goodness.
The sensible option for the DPP was always to wait until KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Soong and the PFP, on the other hand, are not constructive in any way, representing as they do the rump of the Mainlander ascendency who, as John Tkacik so memorably said, prefer China rule Taiwan rather than Taiwanese rule Taiwan. The DPP's courting of Soong was either a publicity exercise of the deepest cynicism or, if seriously meant, a piece of folly for which the country might have paid dearly.
As for Soong, the degree of speculation over his intentions prior to his return, not to mention his feting at the airport only go to show the limits of Taiwan's much vaunted democratic transition.
The idea of spreading democracy promulgated by Western powers since the end of the Cold War has always centered on elections. Certainly free and fair elections are necessary to what we understand as liberal democracy, but they are far from sufficient. Other factors matter as well, especially the rule of law. If this can be flouted with impunity, then elections become little more than an argument over who should share the spoils.
Taiwan has great steps to take before we can say the rule of law effectively applies. Soong's very prominence gives the lie to any notion of the rule of law applying in this society. There is a wealth of evidence to show that Soong is a thief. He is known to have put NT$360 million of KMT funds illegally -- ie, without the consent of the party -- into his family members' bank accounts. That is theft. Since he had management of the funds at the time as the KMT's secretary general it is also breach of trust.
And this leads us to a bitter paradox: Taiwan will not enjoy the rule of law and will not be the liberal democracy it claims to be while the government is trying to woo someone like Soong. Taiwan will only be a real democracy when Soong is in jail.
The conflict in the Middle East has been disrupting financial markets, raising concerns about rising inflationary pressures and global economic growth. One market that some investors are particularly worried about has not been heavily covered in the news: the private credit market. Even before the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global capital markets had faced growing structural pressure — the deteriorating funding conditions in the private credit market. The private credit market is where companies borrow funds directly from nonbank financial institutions such as asset management companies, insurance companies and private lending platforms. Its popularity has risen since
On March 22, 2023, at the close of their meeting in Moscow, media microphones were allowed to record Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) telling Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin, “Right now there are changes — the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years — and we are the ones driving these changes together.” Widely read as Xi’s oath to create a China-Russia-dominated world order, it can be considered a high point for the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea (CRINK) informal alliance, which also included the dictatorships of Venezuela and Cuba. China enables and assists Russia’s war against Ukraine and North Korea’s
An article published in the Dec. 12, 1949, edition of the Central Daily News (中央日報) bore a headline with the intimidating phrase: “You Cannot Escape.” The article was about the execution of seven “communist spies,” some say on the basis of forced confessions, at the end of the 713 Penghu Incident. Those were different times, born of political paranoia shortly after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) relocated to Taiwan following defeat in China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The phrase was a warning by the KMT regime to the local populace not to challenge its power or threaten national unity. The
The Iran war has exposed a fundamental vulnerability in the global energy system. The escalating confrontation between Iran, Israel and the US has begun to shake international energy markets, largely because Iran is disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow waterway carries roughly one-third of the world’s seaborne oil, making it one of the most strategically sensitive energy corridors in the world. Even the possibility of disruption has triggered sharp volatility in global oil prices. The duration and scope of the conflict remain uncertain, with senior US officials offering contradictory signals about how long military operations might continue.
RSS